Pictured: The mothers of America’s Sufferage Movement, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Photo by Napoleon Sarony, National Woman’s Party Records, Library of Congress (See also the Ken Burns /PBS film Not for Ourselves Alone to learn more about these amazing women…)

Did you know that all but one of Ink & Paper Group’s authors are women? What better way to acknowledge them and their achievements—as well as their gender’s lineage—than by hosting a sale this month in honor of women everywhere?

With this in mind, you can buy ANY (or ALL) of the following titles for 50% off (+ $2.50/copy for first-class shipping). Just contact linda.meyer@inkandpapergroup.com or call 503.232.0103 to order (major credit cards accepted).

BOWLER HAT COMICS

• Visibility, by Sarah Neufeld = $7.50 (reg. $15.00)

DAME ROCKET PRESS

• Give My Love to Everybody, edited by Jennifer Weaver-Neist = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Hate Mail, by m. m. garcia = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• Magic Gardens, by Viva Las Vegas = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)

THREE MUSES PRESS

• Duet with Hummingbird, by Ana Callan = $8.98 (reg. $17.95)
• Keeper of Secrets, by Anjuelle Floyd = $7.48 (reg. $14.95)
• nothing but squares, by t. litwinchuk = $6.48 (reg. $12.95)

CLICK HERE for more information on Women’s History Month.

Did you know that the Pacific Northwest is home to a thriving small press community? Join Ink & Paper Group and its imprints—Bowler Hat Comics, Dame Rocket Press, and Three Muses Press—in celebrating the compelling, diverse, and newsworthy literary voices being brought to you by small presses in our neck of the woods and across the nation. Small Press Month, sponsored by the New York Center for Independent Publishing (formerly the Small Press Center) and held annually in March, raises awareness about the work of independent presses across the United States.

Want to learn more about some small presses in our area? Check out the links in the list below.
Beyond Words Publishing, Inc. (Hillsboro, OR): www.beyondword.com
Bowler Hat Comics (Portland, OR): www.bowlerhatcomics.com
Cellar Door Publishing (Portland, OR): www.cellardoorpublishing.com
CoreWay Media (Portland, OR): www.coreway.com
Dame Rocket Press (Portland, OR): www.damerocketpress.com
Dancing Moon Press (Newport, OR): www.dancingmoonpress.com
Dark Horse Comics (Milwaukie, OR): www.darkhorse.com
Eberhardt Press (Portland, OR): www.eberhardtpress.org
Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts (Portland, OR): www.hawthornebooks.com
Hot Off the Press (Canby, OR): www.b2b.hotp.com
Ink & Paper Group, LLC (Portland, OR): www.inkandpapergroup.com
Microcosm Publishing (Portland, OR): www.microcosmpublishing.com
Nestucca Spit Press (Pacific City, OR): www.nestuccaspitpress.com
New Sage Press (Troutdale, OR): www.newsagepress.com
Oni Press, Inc. (Portland, OR): www.onipress.com
Ooligan Press (Portland, OR): www.ooliganpress.pdx.edu
Pinball Publishing (Portland, OR): www.pinballpublishing.com
Ringing Bell Press (Portland, OR) www.ringingbellpress.com
So New Media (Eugene, OR): www.sonewpublishing.com
Three Muses Press (Portland, OR): www.threemusespress.com
Timber Press (Portland, OR): www.timberpress.com
Tin House (Portland, OR): www.tinhouse.com
Top Shelf Productions (Portland, OR): www.topshelfcomix.com
Virtual Tales (Vancouver, WA): www.virtualtales.com
Wordcraft of Oregon (La Grande, OR): www.wordcraftoforegon.com

Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland made its way to the printer this week! Here’s some early buzz:

With Kid Beowulf, cartoonist Alexis E. Fajardo combines a wonderful sense of whimsy and high adventure into a totally captivating and enjoyable series. Great fun for young and old readers!
~ Jeff Lemire, Essex County

This book actually made me interested in Beowulf, and even J. R. R. Tolkien couldn’t do that! With a breezy cartoon style, idiosyncratic character designs, and crystal clear storytelling, Kid Beowulf is a fine addition to any comic collection or library.
~Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules

Middle Age adventure meets all ages fun. Alexis Fajardo mixes history with folklore to create a wonderful tale.
~Frank Cammuso, Knights of the Lunch Table

OK, OK. So, we’d hoped to have more done with the Dame Rocket website this month, but we’ve got our plans in place—we swear! It’s just these blasted, everyday challenges that come from trying to run a small independent press! It’s pure insanity, no matter HOW passionate and dedicated you are. You truly need multiple personalities to get it all done (and STILL it all won’t get done).

In any event, here are some things to look forward to in the coming month (fingers crossed, “needle in yer [our] eye,” and all that):

• Arrival of Magic Gardens reprints
• Updated DRP website
• BIG SALE on all Ink & Paper titles by a female author (to celebrate Women’s History Month)
• News on a possible new title for DRP in Spring 2011

Thanks for standing by and for all your support!

And onward we go…

At long last, Morgan’s Pasture by Wallace J. Swenson is back on Three Muses‘ production schedule. We look forward to seeing this wonderful YA coming-of-age story in print this May. Stay tuned for more details…

“It is, then, the strife of all honorable men of the twentieth century to see that in the future competition of races, the survival of the fittest shall mean the triumph of the good, the beautiful, and the true; that we may be able to preserve for future civilization all that is really fine and noble and strong, and not continue to put a premium on greed and impudence and cruelty.”

~ W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of the Sons of Master and Man,” The Souls of Black Folk

February is Black History Month, and to this day, African American W. E. B. Du Bois’s groundbreaking book (published in 1903) continues to influence and challenge the core of American culture, practice, and conscience.

We don’t see HOW you could have gotten enough of I&PG’s authors yet, so here are a few opportunities to see two of them read in the next few weeks:

*Thursday, January 28, 2010*
Viva Las Vegas will be reading from her Dame Rocket Press title Magic Gardens for the Gray Skies Reading Series in Olympia, Washington.
TIME: 8 p.m.
PLACE: Swing Wine Bar & Cafe (825 Columbia Street SW; Olympia, WA 98501)
PRICE: Free & open to the public

*Wednesday, February 3, 2010*
Oregon Literary Review co-hosts First Wednesdays, a series of readings, performances, and wine-tasting at the Blackbird Wine Shop, 4323 NE Fremont (Portland), 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. This show is for ages twenty-one and over.

Ana Callan will read from her poetry collection Duet with Hummingbird (Three Muses Press). Other readers presenting are Alissa Nielsen, Lauren Schmidt, Bennett Huffman.

CONTACT Julie Mae Madsen at maemadsen@gmail.com for more information.

Bowler Hat Comics announces Schoolhouse Supplies as the recipient of donations from Bowler Hat’s December Charity Challenge. With several copies of Kid Beowulf and the Blood-Bound Oath and Visibility going to Schoolhouse Supplies, Bowler Hat Comics calls this experimental challenge a success and looks forward to doing it again next December.

Schoolhouse Supplies connects members of the community with students in over 130 schools throughout the Portland Public School district. To learn more about this organization and how you can support their efforts, please visit their site at schoolhousesupplies.org.

Bowler Hat Comics is pleased to announce that preview pages for all Bowler Hat titles can now be read at bowlerhatcomics.com. This includes a sneak peak at the forthcoming title, Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland. To learn more, or better yet, to read the previews, head on over!

Publisher Jen Weaver-Neist is very pleased to announce that copies of Magic Gardens: The Memoirs of Viva Las Vegas have been selling like hotcakes, and a reprint is in the works for February!

Give My Love to Everybody: Letters from a World War II Soldier will also require a reprint in the next few months, and we’re planning a celebration for Memorial Day in May. Stay tuned for details, as we’d love for you to join us for an all-ages, veteran-friendly event, complete with music of the times, and swingin’ food and drink to match.

Copies of DRP’s first title, Hate Mail, are also available just in time for Valentine’s Day, so please contact us directly for a 50% discount during the month of February (shipping not included): sales@damerocketpress.com or 503.232.0103.

February is going to bring some reorganization to Dame Rocket’s site as well. We’ll give you all the latest in next month’s newsletter.

Until then…